Absence
by Lita Mikhail
Summary: Lucy decides to go on a mission all by herself and tells no one. It was supposed to last only three days, but she only returned two months later on Gajeel's arms with severe injures and half of the memories of what happened.While a powerful magic runs through her body, she has to face the many questions Natsu and the others were making the entire time she was away.
1. Chapter 1

**So, if you've already seen this fic in portuguese on Nyah! Fanfiction, don't be alarmed. I'm posting here and there. You'll see the nickname is the same. This is not plagiarism. I just decided to translate it, because I can. :3**

**Enjoy! **

**The Omission**

"Like they would ever notice my absence..." Lucy thought about Mirajane's words on her way back to her house, as she would get ready for the assignment she so cautiously chose.

"A mission on your own?" Mirajane said with the tray balanced on her right hand, observing the poster Lucy had chose. "Are you sure, Lucy? Won't Natsu miss you?"

For the answer to Mirajane's question, Natsu shout from afar:

"Gray, you bastard! Gimme that!" He would lean over to get the photography from Gray's hand, slightly embarrassed. Gray didn't want to return. Natsu, in his most awkward moment, prepared his flaming fist and aimed to Gray's face, but he made a barrier of ice and jumped off the range.

"Come and get, hot-head" Gray provoked, swinging the picture in front of an angry Natsu. Sneaky, in the shape of a bird, Lisanna flies quickly in front of Gray's black eyes and captures the picture with her golden beak in less than a second. Then, she turns back to normal, takes the picture off her mouth and sees what was making Natsu so ashamed. It was a picture, of them both, Natsu on the right side and Lisanna on the left, in the center of the picture, a blue cat would emerge from a shattered giant egg. Behind the photography, written in red ink, a name and a shy heart drew on the side. "Lisanna".

"You kept the picture this hole time, Natsu?" Lisanna said, confronting Natsu, observing his cheeks blush. He deflected her eyes, she smiled passionately.

When Mirajane turn her eyes back to stare at Lucy, she was no longer there. She had already gone and the poster with her.

While she organized the folded clothes inside her bag, Lucy thought to herself. He wouldn't care. He was way too busy, taking back the lost time with Lisanna, "his childhood sweet-heart". Observe the emphasis on these last words. That made her very upset. Angry. The fact that Natsu could love Lisanna more than her, just by knowing Lisanna a little longer than her, bothered.

Bothered.

It bothered.

Lucy had stopped folding her clothes in the bag. Her tears came down her pink cheek, watering her hands and the folded clothes.

Then, came a sudden wish to smash something, to hit somebody, to throw something against the wall. But she didn't. She just close her hand crumpling the clothes.

There was nothing she could do.

Nothing.

She would have to accept Lisanna's presence there.

Quietly...


	2. Chapter 2

2

It was an easy mission, it was supposed to last three days, a week tops.

And Lucy was taking too long to come back.

What must have happened? Was everything alright?

After the first week, Mirajane started to think that something went wrong. But Lisanna didn't let her sister worry. She was constantly calling for the eldest sister for plays and talks, taking so much of her time, as well as her mind. If Mirajane was, indeed, worried about Lucy, she just didn't show.

On the second week, Mirajane started to be bothered, asking herself if Lucy was okay. "What must have happened? Did something happened?" She would ask to herself, behind the counter, on her arms while staring at nowhere. Then, her youngest sister would appear and call for her.

"Mira-nee!" Lisanna said, while clinging to Natsu's arm. "Can you make a watermelon juice for Natsu?" She said, practically throwing herself on the bench.

"Lisanna, I already told I don't like watermelon". Natsu said while running his hand on his arm. Years had passed since the last time he saw her, consequently Lisanna got stronger. Strong enough to hurt him without even realizing it.

"How can you say that if you never tried?" In an answer to her question, Natsu scowled, predicting the worst. "Please, Mira-nee".

Then, with an smile, Mirajane would cave in her sister's wishes, putting, once more, the thoughts of concern over Lucy aside.

That happened for eight weeks.

Two moths.

For two hole months, no one noticed Lucy's absence, everyone's eyes was heading toward Lisanna. Not that she was doing it on purpose, it wasn't her intention. It was just natural. Like her being there could somehow overshadowed Lucy's presence and absence.

Of course, there was some exceptions.

Like Gajeel, Wendy, Levy...

Maybe for not knowing Lisanna very well as a child, they could not say much about her. They were not affected by the illusion of her blue eyes and her soft smile.

Gajeel did not empathize with Lisanna. And he could not explain why. There was something about her that he just... Well, enough to say that the first impression did not go very well. The same happened to Wendy and Levy. Maybe they were the only ones to notice Lucy's concerned absence.

"I think no one realized it yet" Wendy said in a sweet tone, approaching the table where Levy and Gajeel were. Levy agreed in silence, while she observed Lisanna pulling Natsu over here and there, while he fake an attempt to escape. "Do you know where she went?"

"No" Levy said, still with the distant eyesight. Then her eyes would turn back to the table. Gajeel just observed in silence, his mind also distant, but he still would pay attention to the conversation. "She said I didn't have to worry."

It was unusual to Gajeel silence himself that way. Something was running through his mind, what it was, no one knew. The table stood in silence for a while, up until the moment where the hole guild started laughing. Levy and Wendy turned her eyes in the direction of the motive of the laughter. Natsu was scowling with two sips of juice stuck in his mouth, unable to go any further. Then he finally got the guts to swallow it, with another grimace. Lisanna could not stop laughing and guild with her.

It was in that moment where Gajeel had decided. Suddenly, he stood up in his chair and, silently, left. Levy did not see him walk away, only saw the empty chair after he had gone. She looked around and did not see him. She spent the hole week thinking about where he had gone.

He went to get Lucy.


	3. Chapter 3

Then passed two months.

Two months.

Eight weeks.

And no one had yet realized her absence. Lucky hers, she wasn't there to see it. That the guild hadn't changed. That their world would spin normally, even without her there. I don't know how she would react if she knew that...  
In those eight weeks, Lisanna did not leave Natsu alone. And he liked it. He couldn't let her alone either. On that day, Natsu and Lisanna were sitting alone in the table, chatting. Just them. Natsu and Lisanna, together, alone at the table.

Lots had already realized they could not leave either one alone. Just like he used to do with Lucy...

By the way, where was Lucy?

They hadn't seen her in a long time, where was she? Was she sick? In a mission? In her home?

Then someone behind Natsu mentioned he hadn't seen Gajeel in a long time.

And just like that, through another person's image, in a crack, an image came through Natsu's mind. A blonde with brown eyes and cheerful smile, that walked around with her bunch of keys hanging on her customary blue skirt.

"Lucy..."

He hasn't realized it. How long has it been? How long has it been since he saw that smile? When was the last time he disturbed her in her own house, receiving one of her famous kicks? Yeah, how long has it been?  
Then, suddenly, he stood up in his chair, with an enormous smile in his face and called for his blue friend.

"Happy! Let's go to Lucy's house?"

Before Natsu could ever got an answer, the doors of the guild opened in a kick, abruptly, in a noise that, if the guild hasn't been quiet already, would've shut them all up. Under the light of the 3 pm afternoon sun, a figure emerged.

Who was he? That figure did not have the time to dramatic entries. As soon as he opened the door with his feet, he ran to the infirmary calling:

"Wendy. Gimme a hand."

Wendy stood up promptly from her chair and went to him, ready to attend Lucy's wounds on Gajeel's arms.


	4. Chapter 4

The hole guild stood in pure silence, not talking normal anymore, only in a whisper kinda tone. As much as Erza tried to talk with Natsu, as much as Lisanna tried to show him her tears, Natsu stood in silence, static. He stayed in a chock for a couple of minutes. Not only because of the sight of Lucy's soft body in Gajeel's arms, but also because of the glare that Gajeel had gave him when he was passing away in direction to the infirmary.

It was a glare of pure hate.

Maybe there was something else in his glare, but the only thing Natsu saw was the hate. So much hate that, when Natsu tried to walk in Lucy's direction, Gajeel growled at him. Not even when Gajeel belonged to Phantom Lord he had shown that face to anyone else.

Half an hour went by.

"What do you think must have happened to her?" Lisanna asked, her eyes already dry, a genuine preoccupation on her voice. "Is my fault", she thought, convinced. Like those thoughts never occurred to Natsu. Not only to Natsu, but for everyone in the guild. A result of an involuntary reflex, even if they weren't really the guilty one, they knew who was. The real one.

Natsu knew who it was. He shook his leg under the table, nervous, while waiting Wendy to come out.

Until he couldn't wait anymore, then he stood up, growling. Walked to the door, only to open in that same moment by Gajeel. They looked at each other angry, ready to enter in a fight.

"How is she?" He asked, worried and angry. More angry than worried. He was pissed because, if Gajeel was there, why did Lucy came back injured like that? He was angry because his nakama didn't called him to do the mission together. He was pissed for many things. But, Gajeel was even more angry than him

And he had his reasons. That is why Gajeel ignored him and ran passed him while going in the directions of the guild.

Natsu couldn't stand that. He was never really calm to ignore that in the first place.

"GAJEEL!" He screamed.

Gajeel stopped, a couple of feet from him, and spied him though the corner of his eye, not giving himself the luxury to be face to face in a real conversation with the Dragon Slayer.

"Why were you with her?" That was not really the question Natsu wanted to make, but that was the one that came out, and, truthfully, he really wanted to know the answer.

"Because," Gajeel started. His voice rude and rough. He said, hating every word, like he had been repeating that same sentence in his head a long time ago, just waiting for the moment when Natsu asked him that. Because Gajeel knew he was going to. "If It wasn't for me, she could have died"

That being said, leaving an angry Natsu behind, Gajeel ran through the guild's gates one more time. This time, a little bit more relieved.

A little later, Wendy came out of the infirmary announcing.

"She's better now"

Exactly the words he wanted to hear.

Natsu went into the infirmary and ran in Lucy's direction. Wendy turned to him and warned "She's unconscious".

But he didn't listen. Wendy knew that. He wouldn't listen to anyone until he saw Lucy.


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Note

What if I told you guys that I have up to 45 chapters of this story, and it's not even finnished. Would you still read it?

* * *

"She's unconscious"

The words echoed in Natsu's mind and in the white room, similar like a hospital, just like Wendy was still there, repeating it to him as many times it was necessary. And every time those words flew in front of his face, he felt even guiltier.

In the moment Natsu saw her injured figure, lying on that bed, he calmed down completely. All his anger fade away for a moment, neutralized by the sense of relief of Lucy being alive.

Alive, but suffering.

Her face was with some dressings, her arm bandaged. Under the blanket that covered her up till her neck, more bands and dressings. But Natsu didn't need to know that. He was more worried about the wounds that covered her pretty face, her white face. Paled.

Only her right arm was out, like showing the guild mark to Natsu. It was clear to him that she was saying "How could leave your nakama at this state?" That thought was already on his mind even before seeing the message, but it got stronger when he saw the pink brand on Lucy's hand.

Her face was pale... Natsu's hand caressed Lucy's cheek. A cheek that once was pink, now it seemed to have lost it's color. She got even whiter. But her skin was still soft. Natsu rubbed his thumb in the right corner of her eye, like he was cleaning a little dirt.

He looked one more time to the guild's mark. He held her hand, and smell it, looking that delicious vanilla scent. But the vanilla was obfuscated by the annoying smell of iron. Closing his eyes, he sighed thanking Gajeel for saving her. In the middle of the mixed vanilla and iron, Natsu finally admitted to have forgotten about her and he felt extremely guilty for it.

He was the guilty for all that.

Opening his eyes again, Natsu looked one more time to Lucy. To her pink lips, to be more accurate. He wanted to know if her lips were also soft. Squeezing her right hand, he leaned forward, slowly. No rush. He could feel her weak breathing, her heat irradiating from her skin, her eyes shaking under her eyelids. Her lip seemed closer.

A tear fell out in Lucy's cheek.

The first tear he dropped, fell over Lucy. The first one, and the second, and the third... He couldn't do this, like nothing's happened. Even if he didn't care what Lisanna would say, even if she didn't see him at that moment, it wasn't fair to do it whit her. No now. Not like that.

Then, Natsu realized Lucy's state once more. She was there, lying, vulnerable and broken, like a porcelain doll. And it was all his fault.

All his fault.

And he knew that.

"I'm sorry". He sobbed, still from a couple inches from her pink soft lips, pouring some more tears, that did not seem to stop. His breath collided with hers.

"Sorry". The words echoed in the white room. But it was too late for apologies.


	6. Chapter 6

"Is Lucy ok?" The first question was Lisanna's, the third worried of all. In first place, was Gajeel, then Natsu, and then Lisanna. Her sweet nature obligated her to ask that, after all, she liked Lucy. Even thought she didn't had the opportunity to talk with her.

Then, Wendy said.

Her words sounded ugly and brutal. A couple of phrases, short, small, but, it shocked the hole guild. In a few seconds, Lisanna regretted to ask the question.

Of course Lucy wasn't ok. You heard it, didn't you? Then, Lisanna started to feel bad for her, like all that could have been avoided if it wasn't for her. The little detail was that Lisanna did not know what she had done wrong. If only she knew...

"How did she get hurt like that?" Levy asked, baffled, still not believing in anything that had happened. She could not believe in any of the words that came out of Wendy's mouth. What do you mean? What was wrong with Lucy's legs? What she has been through? Lucy really did walked in the thin line between life and death?

Levy's question was asked more to herself, in a disbelief tone. She still thought "Why didn't I tag along? Why didn't she call me?" But, Wendy heard Levy's mutter and answered her:

"I don't know." Wendy shrugged. There was nothing else she could do "You're going to have to ask that to her when she wakes up. Probably going to take a while"

"What do you mean?" Natsu asked while getting out of the infirmary. His eyes called everyone's attention. His eyes were dry, but a little pinky-sh and swollen. "When is Lucy going to wake up?"

"I don't know" Wendy said, sadly. She saw herself thanking and praying for Natsu didn't heard the diagnostic. If he had hear, probably he would not be able to forgive himself. "She seems to have being hurt brutally. When the pain is too intense, the mind "shut's off" in a way of self defense."

Mirajane found herself terrorized. Her hands were in front of her mouth, while muttering: "Poor thing", trying to imagine scenes of a horror movie. "The things she must have gone through..." As much as she tried to imagine, nothing came to mind, and, for a second, she thanked for that"

But Wendy did not tell everything. She did not tell about Lucy's wounds. They weren't simple wounds as you see in warriors after battles. It was a different kind of pattern, like Lucy never even had a chance to defend herself.

The guild was shocked. Among them all, Levy was baffled, Lisanna felt guilty, Erza asked to be hit for thinking to be a bad friend, Gray maintained serious, Happy was almost crying, Charlie kept her eyes down and etc. You must be able to imagine, everyone was sad, shocked, reacting in its own way to the news, but, they were thinking the same thing:

"What must have happened?"

"Oy, Mira" Natsu said, breaking the silence surrounded the guild for a couple of seconds "After all, what mission did Lucy went?"

Mirajane squat lightly to take the huge registry book. She did not want to believe in the details that she failed to remember, wishing her memory was wrong. But, when she read the same thing twice, saddened. It was a shame that her memory was that good.

"It was a Rank C mission. She had to capture teenagers that been waking around disturbing the peace of a small village."

"Rank C?" The hole guild was frightened. How, in a mission like that, did Lucy got hurt? Was those teenagers so sadistic to that point? Other commentaries had been made, but none of them was right. Not even Gajeel, who was no longer, didn't know what happened.

In that silence, more intense than never, Natsu went back to the infirmary room. You could hear his teeth gritting. He sat again by Lucy's side, ignoring what anyone would say, took her right hand again. He kissed the pink brand in her hand and swore to himself.

"I will never leave you alone again"


	7. Chapter 7

Gajeel came back with a serious and nervous face, few minutes later of his scene with Natsu in the middle of the guild. The mood was still tense. He was probably irritated. "Maybe he knew what was happening since the beginning..." They wondered. Levy and Wendy didn't need to wonder. They knew that Gajeel realized it since the beginning, thus the reason for him be irritated.

Without saying a single word, he got in the infirmary, meeting him again, sitting in the chair next to Lucy's bed, holding her right hand.

"Natsu" That was the first time Gajeel called him by his name since he brought Lucy in his arms "Gimme a minute with her"

Without questioning, Natsu stood up and quietly, with his head down, head over to the door. By passing Gajeel, whom was not in the middle of the way, Natsu meant to hit his shoulder in his arm. "He's provoking..." Gajeel thought.

A second before opening the door, Natsu turned to face him and said: "Don't you dare think this is over"

"That never passed my mind not even for a second, hot-headed".

After that being said, Natsu walks out, against his will, leaving the both of them alone. Gajeel stood in the same position, watching the door for a couple of seconds, like he waited Natsu to come back. When he didn't, he turned to Lucy. She was awakening.

Her brown eyes twinkled a little bit, trying to send the blur away. She felt her body heavy, her head hurts, like she had just woken up from a afternoon nap. The longest nap in her life. Lucy sat on the bed, trying to recognize where she was. Then she saw Gajeel. As soon as he saw Lucy awakening, ran to her and sat on the chair, worried. Lucy realized it and she smiled at him.

She stared at him and he stared at her.

A little spark passed between the both of them. A tiny little spark, almost nonexistent. But it was there. Their eyes said more than just words. That look denounced the history between the both of them.

It was a look that made other people ask: "After all, what happened between you two?"

"You brought me here?" Lucy asked after a moment of silence. Gajeel shook his head. Lucy stared down. "Does Natsu knows I'm here?"

"He was here up until now. I asked him to be alone with you" He said thoughtfully. His rough voice came out calmer, like a whisper. He realized and corrected himself, coughing a little bit before standing up and saying "I'll call Wendy to come take a look in you"

"No." She said, pulling his shirt. Gajeel stepped back, turning to stare at her. She not yet let go of his shirt. "Can you take me home? I don't want to see anyone in this state." Lucy said, stuttering a little bit. There was fear in her voice. Gajeel was stumbled. Not even him knew _exactly_ what happened to her. But it seemed that it changed her, deeply. There was fear all over her eyes.

That is why he decided to meet her request. Normally he wouldn't, but he had promised. Not to mention that he was curious as well. At some point, when she got better, he would ask.

Then he picked her up. There's something Lucy never hoped to see. Being carried in bridal style by Gajeel Redfox. If she was going to be held that way, she would wish it was Natsu. But he had replaced her. And that still hurts.

With Lucy in his lap, Gajeel jumped the window, not really thinking about that the other would say about their disappearance. Without wandering around in the city, Gajeel ran to Lucy's apartment where he jumped her window. Her bed was very close to the window. A "short-cut", like Natsu once said by climbing up and laying down in her bed, floating her bed with his heat.

With a care that she didn't know existed, Gajeel put her on the bed.

"There". He said. Lucy smiled a little bit. "Wendy told me you needed a break. I'm going to leave you alone". Said, hesitant, ready to jump down the window. Lucy pulled his shirt once more, unconsciously. She could not explain why his presence soothed her.

"Please." She mumbled. "Stay a little more"

He tried to protest, but her eyes saddened once more. She did not wanted to be alone. He also didn't want to leave her alone.

Then, Gajeel pulled a chair and stood there. By Lucy's side.


End file.
